»Kultur denken. Season 8 Episode 4: OLFAC with Gwenn-Aël Lynn and Dorothee King

00:00:12: Hi again and welcome back to episode four of Kultur Denken, Thinking Culture.

00:00:18: The podcast is the International Research Center for Cultural Studies at the University of Art & Design in Linz.

00:00:25: We are in Vienna at this symposium titled Olfak Sensing Across the Humanities, Science And Arts.

00:00:31: I will speak with Gwen Erlin.

00:00:33: Gwen is a Franco-American transdisciplinary artist.

00:00:38: He builds interactive installations that combine sense, sound and technology to pose questions about identity culture in the political.

00:00:47: Gwen also performs with sense sounds and teas.

00:00:51: Lately he has been exploring this space between environmental activism and art together with Deborah Riley-Parrr who is editor of The Book or Factory Art In The Political at an Age Of Resistance which brings together important voices from the olfactory research among others, Sean Chu and Dorothy King whom we hear in this podcast.

00:01:11: Here at the Olfax Symposium Gwen Lynn is presenting his ongoing research project called Contested Space.

00:01:19: speaking to Gwen after his presentation here's how he describes

00:01:32: against infrastructures that provoke climate change, they'll contribute to climate change.

00:01:37: And I kind of feel like.

00:01:38: you know over the past ten years there were moments where i was hopeful and especially with the re-election of Donald Trump...I'm kinda like well however amount of carbon dioxide is locked into the atmosphere.

00:01:49: this is where we are.

00:01:50: it's basically too late That my personal position.

00:01:55: learning about space junk which a different problem but follows the same logic extractive logic.

00:02:01: I was like, we can do something about it now.

00:02:03: It's not too late... ...it is after the fact that its happening right now and we could still attempt to prevent from getting worse.

00:02:10: Gwenn has started his presentation with showing the sheer amount of old and new satellites rocket pieces.. ..and other bits of human made trash circling around Earth

00:02:20: Space currently being colonized since dawn of space age.

00:02:26: this notion of going to the new frontier.

00:02:28: Frontier is another word for wilderness, untamed.

00:02:30: so Kennedy kind of looked at space outer-space as a new frontier.

00:02:34: This was where Americans will turn to send pioneers to colonize space.

00:02:38: One other consequence that approached on earth is climate change.

00:02:42: So in Space they have same approach.

00:02:43: They've already polluted the moon

00:02:45: Looking into how he can help raise awareness about this process of the colonization.

00:02:50: Gwen has been given a grant and went to field research in South Texas where SpaceX Elon Musk's private aerospace and space transportation company, has a rocket launch pad.

00:03:01: Then I figured well what can i do?

00:03:03: so one of the ideas I had was to go at one of their locations that contributes through Space Sharks or SpaceX in south texas?

00:03:11: And I was hoping that it would mean enough activists there will be enough of us basically make a public piece of art and I was thinking that we could pause those launches, those rocket launches.

00:03:21: If there's an artwork there because if they do the launch then you would destroy it.

00:03:25: but then i found out that actually there's not enough of us to do it.

00:03:28: so had hold back on that idea instead decided to research where this is happening in.

00:03:33: this is how findout he wasn't able state park meaning its supposedly protected.

00:03:37: somehow Elon Musk and SpaceX have been able circumvented.

00:03:41: Here is Gwen during his presentation where he describes how the landscape looks.

00:03:46: So this again, natural preserves.

00:03:49: so it's very flat because its... Again we're in fresh water.

00:03:53: from their real grandeur meets saltwater form sea.

00:03:56: There are no trees and what photos don't convey that extremely hot Very very humid.

00:04:02: so mosquitoes will be happy.

00:04:04: but there also birds as you can maybe make out here.

00:04:08: And It's also very wet because there's again all that water, that just seeps in.

00:04:13: If they're just stormed is even more water.

00:04:15: so nothing else.

00:04:16: but these different types of grass has grown.

00:04:18: But there are also species.

00:04:20: So there's turtles wild rabbits deers.

00:04:24: It's also a bird refuge.

00:04:25: This is the hawk and here's a shot of Croton which grows on the dune by the sea All along the Gulf of Mexico.

00:04:33: And this is the camphor weed Which it not related to Jennifer from Asia, but has the same olfactory molecule.

00:04:43: This watery swampy nature is highly at risk as SpaceX is now building on this

00:04:49: Starbase which is where they manufacture their rockets Has become a city.

00:04:54: so now you have a small town in the middle of a wilderness preserve Which means they're going to pour concrete build a supermarket all that In the middle what was once an area set aside for wildlife.

00:05:05: There's one road that goes from the city of Brownsville, which is a few miles so a few kilometers behind inland.

00:05:12: That's where they shoot their rockets but then there's another compound Where they make the rocket.

00:05:17: So it's in at least two locations that are very close.

00:05:20: But now all of that has the status of a city Which means you're gonna keep building.

00:05:24: some people who work at SpaceX don't have to commute or deliver right here.

00:05:28: The area is one of the most southern parts of the United States, around the city of Bronzeville which is the Southernmost City in the United states located on the border to Mexico.

00:05:39: The county where Bronzeville is located as one of poorest counties in US.

00:05:44: I am asking about pre-Space X community's background.

00:05:49: The city of Brownsville at Port Isabel, it's mostly blue-collar so working class or what's left to the working class.

00:05:54: So there is a ethnic dimension in this sense that all people who work for SpaceX are highly qualified workers.

00:06:00: The cities, the two cities that are nearby our mostly blue collar lots of unemployment lack of education and so one of the ways Elon Musk is able to trap them in convincing him this good for you even though it's not.

00:06:13: It will provide jobs but he doesn't because they're too qualified for people who live there.

00:06:18: So basically brainwashing them.

00:06:21: You probably heard about DOGE when Trump was first elected.

00:06:28: He nominated Elon Musk to make the government, the fellow government more efficient.

00:06:33: But that was a cover-up for Elon Musk.

00:06:35: get all of his permits.

00:06:37: Every time SpaceX tests one of their rockets it's using tons of liquid methane as fuel.

00:06:43: If launches go wrong then the methane blows up.

00:06:47: More than half these launches fail and result in explosion.

00:06:50: debris falls out and puts the nearby communities at risk of physical hazard.

00:06:54: In addition, SpaceX privatizes Boca Chica Public Beach for their own galas in a spectacle of rocket launchers.

00:07:00: More importantly this is also an ancestral land of the Stugna tribe.

00:07:04: Their origin myth takes place on nearby South Padres Island and burial grounds dot the landscape.

00:07:10: Elon Musk can be heard as a press conference saying that he chose his land because nobody lives there.

00:07:17: And if a test rocket explodes, quote it's

00:07:19: cool.".

00:07:22: Nobody lives there and if rockets explode its COOL.

00:07:26: This way of making business is protected by the Trump administration.

00:07:30: Gwen is stating the question why we have to go to space at all?

00:07:34: Not only will we be littering the moon in the Mars like we've been doing with Earth….

00:07:39: …and sooner or later destroy it – We'll also be deprived our senses!

00:07:43: Gwen elaborates on that in his presentation.

00:07:46: Vision is the only sense that humans can use in outer space.

00:07:51: It's impossible to use our remaining senses as there is no medium for us to survive in space, and this absence of a medium also precludes stimuli to reach us.

00:08:01: Cross molar perception is impossible in space, and this fact should make us pause as it's easy to understand that a sensory reduction at once reinforces visual hegemony and conduces neocolonialists to appropriate space for their own benefit.

00:08:15: The sensory deprivation gives them the excuse of deploying colonial-visual technology so they can conquer space to privatize its personal goals.

00:08:24: yet space belongs no one.

00:08:26: What Musk does in South Texas is land grab.

00:08:30: He is gnawing at the natural preserves a little bit of time, with the complicity of the corrupt state of Texas.

00:08:37: What this land grab manifests along with narrative that it isn't developed land and no one lives there Is that spatial colonization begins here on earth before satellites or other instruments reach orbit.

00:08:48: Hence if we want to protect low Earth orbit from space shock If you want resist bringing the entropocene into the moon & Mars We need decolonize south texas in other regions where they are rocket launch pads.

00:09:00: Space decolonization begins here on Earth, and what better way to do this than ensure that the sensorium remains diverse and stimulates more then just the eyes.

00:09:08: If we respect soundscape and olfactory scape and don't let them be colonized by methane or explosion noise if you are still able hear birds in smell camphor or crottin' or other plants Why are we letting a handful of billionaires pollute near-Earth orbit in our name and their space junk?

00:09:25: If we ask ourselves what is the sensory benefit to having to wear a spacesuit that cuts us off from our sensorium, then why do WE need to colonize the Moon & Moors.

00:09:34: Why would we sensory deprive

00:09:36: ourselves?".

00:09:37: The colonial narrative at play to justify the commodification.

00:09:40: as space is nefarious – it will result in species living on a sensory deprived environment.

00:09:45: provided we survive climate catastrophe we have unleashed We need international standards to preserve our sensorium, and therefore the land we inhabit in nearby space.

00:09:54: There is something fundamentally inhuman in wanting to go into space – it's not meant for us….

00:09:59: …and it diminishes our sensory abilities.

00:10:01: Hence unless we embrace a techno-fascist approach there is no reason for humans even going into space.

00:10:07: My intent is find ways of decolonizing space.

00:10:09: This process starts here on Earth!

00:10:11: We have to find ways.

00:10:12: pausing rocket launches then can collectively ask species if they benefit from commodifying outer space.

00:10:19: If the answer is no, we need an international framework that prevents commodification of space and does not let a tiny handful of capitalist wreak vast expenses for their personal benefits.

00:10:29: Meanwhile artists and activists can resist this sensory depriving agenda by ensuring our sensorium remains in tune with world atmosphere.

00:10:38: more art that fosters affection and other senses of proximity becomes necessity to ensure survival.

00:10:45: I'm asking Gwen Can olfactory art be an act of resistance?

00:11:16: There are other forms of data or performance where you interact and that compels us to become active, I think.

00:11:22: So in another word... You participate in the performance then take it elsewhere for example at a protest And your gonna be active.

00:11:29: so i think he compels this to be active in a single faction.

00:11:31: The sense of affection is very efficient because you're actively smelling.

00:11:36: The dominant smell in south texas isn't camphor or croton.

00:11:40: It's the smell of standing water like water that is stagnant.

00:11:44: But then there's all these other smells, but these smell they actually have to search for them.

00:11:49: So like the camphor you have to get really close to it always when I'm in nature or always rub things To see if it releases a smell.

00:11:55: You know how like.

00:11:56: activate things?

00:11:57: Take their risk of maybe i'm gonna be Stung by some plant and i'm going to have a rash, but that's fine.

00:12:03: Just kind of try to you know Activate this male.

00:12:06: basically.

00:12:07: so olfaction compels you to Be active and therefore not passive And so I think politically It's important.

00:12:14: Gwen is saying that on earth one can do more than simply gaze at a landscape.

00:12:19: One can investigate olfactory scape, soundscape and these investigations can lead to empathy.

00:12:25: This idea has been developed by Dorothy King In her essay.

00:12:29: Is There Empathy Through Breathing?

00:12:31: in Gwen's book Olfactory Art And The Political In An Age Of Resistance Dorothy is proposing the idea That olfactory perception is likely To trigger emotional responses.

00:12:43: In this episode, I also want to speak with Dorothy King.

00:12:59: Dorothy's topic at the conference somehow just connects very well to Gwen's presentation as we now go from the macro perspective To the micro-perspective From space to a very small country in the European mountains.

00:13:13: Dorothy king is professor and head of The Institute for Arts & Design Education At the University of arts and design in Basel Switzerland.

00:13:22: Her most recent publication is the kleine Basler Designgeschichte, co-authored with Jonathan Adler and Ernst Merritt.

00:13:30: Here is Dorothy's introduction to her presentation.

00:13:33: that connects her topic very well with what we just heard from Gwen.

00:13:37: So Carrie Patterson home sickness kit from two thousand thirteen which is like a small ball.

00:13:43: do you know that artwork?

00:13:45: Yeah And this kind of object, I think it's out of Battlestar Galactica or some other TV series.

00:13:54: You can open these little components and there are smells like sandalwood... Lindenblossom, Rose and others.

00:14:03: Apparently the smells most popular on planet Earth And this is meant to become along when you travel space.

00:14:11: so we have something to smell When you get homesick.

00:14:14: but we learned this morning from Gwen that You cannot smell outer space.

00:14:19: So the object in itself pretty ridiculous, but also shows what I'm interested in these feelings.

00:14:29: And also Gwen mentioned this.

00:14:30: empathy, the belonging and feeling of home we have via smell as my research earlier showed that Yes, smell is connected or you probably know kind of more connected to areas in our brain where we store our emotions.

00:14:46: So I wonder when we earthlings are clinging to an object like that?

00:14:50: That it's also inclusive for all the Earthlings but also exclusive to others.

00:14:56: and that brings me to my project which actually not called current smells Switzerland.

00:15:01: even worse the smell of Switzerland!

00:15:10: Thanks for having me on the ESK podcast.

00:15:14: Can you introduce us again to your research topic?

00:15:19: Yes, so I'm here at The All Facts Symposium to speak about current smells of Switzerland as a way to introduce our dear Smell Community about my project, The Smell of Switzerland which was funded by the Swiss National Fund with a spark funding for last year.

00:15:41: And the smell of Switzerland is understanding mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion into what's called the Swiss community mechanisms of othering, so feeling of exclusion or definite exclusion off the Swiss society.

00:16:06: And that is a big adventure as the Swiss Society is very complex.

00:16:16: it's shaped by long history migration and multilingual with an ever changing and fast growing population and thereby I look at current media phenomena.

00:16:32: So from TV ads to older books, movies but also online communities.

00:16:44: then i went on to interview artists dealing with smell as well.

00:16:50: this question of what is it being Swiss?

00:16:55: Yeah.

00:16:56: Can you probably go back to your research about smell and language?

00:17:04: So I was focusing on Swiss German, as Swiss German is with fifty-some what percent like the most dominant spoken language in also culturally even though Italian and French and Romance official Swiss languages are the most prominent and dominant.

00:17:25: And so I'm also looking at language particularities, and in comparison to German-German.

00:17:35: In Swiss-Germany they use the same word for taste or smell which is too schmuckge.

00:17:41: So i looked into that and i also looked into proverbs dealing with smell other ring, in the sense talk.

00:17:56: coming back to this famous quote by Jonathan Reiner.

00:17:59: It said kind of that loved ones smell well and the once we don't know they reek there's a lot of distinction of okay stuff is foreign into our nose doesn't smell well And then local stuff smells good.

00:18:14: so I find that alot with German proverbs aswell.

00:18:21: interesting fact that because also in the German language or English, other languages as far I know there's positive comments like we stop to smell roses for example.

00:18:34: In her presentation.

00:18:35: Dorothy elaborates on this.

00:18:37: The smell of roses is an example from olfactory picture and english everyone knows.

00:18:43: So it's something positive.

00:18:45: so you pause and take the beauty in of your environment or Something, and here.

00:18:50: It's all about.

00:18:51: I had to feeling The smell was all About other ring?

00:19:14: You see my Swiss Germans in that gray.

00:19:16: What smells good gives you a feeling again, write the positive ones and negative ones or not.

00:19:21: every sentence for every nose.

00:19:27: I thought this is very interesting to actually have seen all about the other things i found so far.

00:19:35: if you want more please send them to me.

00:19:39: Dorothy has collected many examples of The Swiss Smell.

00:19:43: It contains the smell of cheese, pine trees fresh air fruit.

00:19:50: But there is this swing, because Switzerland's so small and the mountains cannot feed its inhabitants anymore.

00:20:00: So it has to rely on importation anyways... ...to feed all of people especially when they want to eat organic.

00:20:07: This image that we eat apples from our neighbour's garden or our own garden.. ..or I also grow up in a farm is repeated constantly.

00:20:20: a Swiss unless like your great-grand, grand grandfather.

00:20:25: It was born there.

00:20:26: it's all about the traditions and the memories And I've also been interested in the memories on this positive connection and empathy.

00:20:34: but here is kind of amplified to level where i have some questions.

00:20:40: As far as I know that this idea of Switzerland quite new or selling This idea of swiss country like a tourist destination or good workplace that came up with the idea of tourism in the late, yeah.

00:20:57: In the nineteenth century.

00:20:59: and then this kind of brand of Switzerland also playing an important neutral role was when it came to play after Second World War more and more all starting first world war.

00:21:13: so I think also being like surrounded by countries of European Union, that there is this big feeling of okay what our identity?

00:21:26: I think it's a big economic factor.

00:21:31: The touristy images on the mountains and snow are perfect nature for wealth.

00:21:39: so i think this is catered to.

00:21:43: So all those smelly, noisy whatever things that don't fit into the picture have to be excluded.

00:21:51: And I think that is kind of why and also in current like last year's The population has grown very fast because the economy is growing fast.

00:22:01: so there are a lot people especially coming from Germany France Italy but other countries Coming into Switzerland Because There Is A Lot Of Work.

00:22:10: But then there's also, I think fear that Swiss culture and tradition can be lost over time because it is so overpopulated by new people migrating to Switzerland.

00:22:21: Yesterday after one of the talks within a discussion you proposed... There might be ways to overcome the othering through smell as well Because smell can also evoke feelings probably of empathy in warmth.

00:22:38: And then today you've been speaking about your art project prompting.

00:22:42: Can you elaborate on this?

00:22:43: Yeah, sure.

00:22:45: so I have been doing a research on smell for quite awhile.

00:22:50: it's all started with my dissertation Kunstriechung Smell Art like ten or more years ago and from that i got more interested in art projects dealing with smell, like Teresa Margol is an artist for example or Michael Pinsky who also use smell to show in just situations of wealth parity and climate change disparity.

00:23:22: And I felt that these art projects.

00:23:25: there are a way when we get so overwhelmed with a smell or take in the smell via breathing into our own body, and also reactions of empathy can happen.

00:23:39: Where we process smells on our brain is very much connected where our emotions are like in old parts.

00:23:51: So we have strong emotional reactions to smells like, oh I just liked that.

00:23:56: Oh it smells as if my grandmother's house or whatever.

00:24:00: so i think we can also use these strong reactions not only create disgust but either contextualizing it in a right way or also using familiar smells create more atmospheres of empathy and trust, well-being.

00:24:20: I don't know if that's so easy!

00:24:21: Of course these are just ideas... And i'm interested in art projects that deal with those questions.

00:24:28: If for example today i was talking to Noa Wieses' work about the melting glaciers.

00:24:36: And I think we don't necessarily like the smell of this melting ice mixed with algae, but when you come to understand that it's about the glaciers and all these Swiss people they love their glaciers for a good reason... We are very empathetic with the glacers then want do something with them.

00:24:55: so i think It is the smell on one side But also the narration around the smell makes us feel empathetic.

00:25:04: Amazing

00:25:04: thankyou Thank

00:25:05: you very much!

00:25:13: So this was a few glimpses into the Olfak symposium.

00:25:17: Organized by Silke Felber, Freda Fialer and Julia Ostwald in December of twenty-five at the EFK in Vienna.

00:25:26: If you want to know more please find them online at olfak.kunstonie minus linds.at.

00:25:33: This

00:25:34: podcast is done by me Katarina Rahn with sound editing from Paul Jones.

00:25:39: Thank you to everyone who spoke with us and the wonderful team of EFK.

00:25:42: Auf Wiederhören!